Green
Power Switch: Wind Power

The wind might
be invisible, but in places where it blows steadily and strongly
it can be a powerful source of energy. With a little help from TVA,
the force that helps a sailboat glide across the lake or a kite
soar high in the sky can also generate enough electric power to
light your home and keep your TV, computer and other appliances
running.

Heres
how wind power works

First TVA sets
up a wind
machine. Its basically a futuristic looking windmill.
Three 135-foot-long rotor blades are attached to a turbine mounted
at the top of a tower thats more than 250 feet tall. The turbine
is connected to an efficient electric generator.

Then TVA puts
several of these wind machines on a site that is known for its windy
conditions. Although the machines arent living things, when
several of them are planted together in the same place
the area is called a wind farm or wind park.
Why? Because they are growing energy that can be harvested
by TVA!

The result? No
pollution. No mess. Just clean, green power from the wind.

Down
on the wind farm

TVAs Buffalo
Mountain Wind Park near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is the first commercial-scale
use of wind power to generate electricity in the southeastern United
States. There are 18 wind-powered generators on the two-acre
site.

Did you know . . .

There are 15 large and three smaller wind turbines at the Buffalo Mountain wind farm. The larger turbines, which are owned by another company that sells wind energy to TVA, are 1.8 megawatts each. TVA installed the 3 smaller ones in 2000, and they’re 660 kilowatts each. So together the turbines can produce about 50 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, which is enough to serve the electricity needs of around 3,680 Tennessee Valley homes.

Higher towers get more wind. That’s why this wind farm is at the top of Buffalo Mountain and why they’re so tall. The tallest ones stand about 395 feet from the ground to the tip of an upright rotor blade.